Coffee Fingers

I’ve been posting some pictures of the Christmas cookies that I’ve been making this year on my Instagram and Facebook feeds and someone requested this recipe, so I figured I’d post it on my blog. This is my first year making my own Christmas cookies, as I’ve been content to mooch off of my mom until now. But now that I have kids of my own along with pregnancy cravings and nesting instincts, I’ve been on a baking frenzy the last week!

I got this recipe for Coffee Fingers from my mom who said she got it from an old church friend named Liz Plett and who knows if she was the original creator or if she also got it from someone else, but whoever created them, they are delicious!! I’m also loving my early Christmas present from my mom of the fun Christmas tins – they are so festive!

Coffee Fingers

1 cup margarine, softened
1/2 cup brown sugar
1-2 eggs, separated
1/4 cup icing sugar
1 tsp. instant coffee
2 cups flour
2+ cups walnuts, finely chopped or coarsely ground

Yields: 4-5 dozen “fingers”

1. Mix dough.
Cream together margarine, brown sugar, one egg yolk, icing sugar and instant coffee. Add flour and mix well. The dough may seem kind of dry when you try to form it into a ball. If so, just play with it and mush it in your hands until the margarine becomes warm and the dough becomes soft and pliable.

2. Roll dough.
Roll dough to about 1/2″ thick on lightly floured surface. Cut into about 1/2″ x 2″ lengths – they’ll look about the same size as your thumb.

3. Dip and roll.
Dip fingers into beaten egg white (you may need more than one, depending on how many fingers you’ve made), then roll in your chopped walnuts and place on a greased cookie sheet. I bought walnut pieces and then ground them up further using my mom’s old manual grinder.

4. Bake at 300F for 20-25 minutes.

5. Enjoy!!